Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch

Welcome toAfrica Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog.Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom ofExpression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace inDRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

STRATEGY 13: Progressive Foreign Policy Based on Common Values and
Interests, Adherence to International Law, and Mutual Respect Between
States

Rwanda has a deplorable record of relations with the
international community, in general, and its neighboring states, in
particular. The Rwandan state has fueled endless and deadly conflict in
the Democratic Republic of Congo and has engaged in premeditated schemes
to destabilize other states in the region. President Kagame‟s arrogant
and often predatory approach to relations with Rwanda‟s neighours has
undermined the efforts of the international community to bring peace and
stability to the Great Lakes region.

Rwanda‟s policies towards
its neighbours have also antagonized governments of the region and
generated bitter hatred against people of Rwandese descent in some
countries. Rwanda owes its disproportionate blame in the Great Lakes
region to efforts on the part of the international community to contain
Rwanda‟s aggressive posture and to dissuade Rwanda from continuing its
role of a “spoiler,” ever eager to undermine regional peace, especially
in the DRC. Rwanda‟s relations with states farther afield lack a
principled basis. Its relationship with the West, for example, has been
built on the foundation of exploiting the West‟s guilt over its failures
in relation to the 1994 genocide.

Rwanda‟s policies and
actions undermine peace and security in the Great Lakes region, as
various United Nations reports, including the recent report on mapping
of human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo have
demonstrated. Rwanda‟s utter disregard for international law and the
sovereignty of other states, its direct aggression towards neighboring
states, its sponsorship of proxy groups to wage war against legitimate
governments, and President Kagame‟s gratuitous arrogance towards the
leaders and peoples of nations in the Great Lakes region fuel
instability, conflict and immense suffering in the region. Rwanda‟s
policies towards neighboring states are also a very significant
hindrance to regional economic cooperation, as well as Rwanda‟s own
security and development needs. As a result of Rwanda‟s foreign
policies, Rwanda is deeply isolated in the region and its relations with
major development partners continue to deteriorate.

Rwanda‟s
prospects for long-term stability, peace and economic prosperity require
an urgent review of the foundations of its relations with the
international community. Rwanda‟s security and development is best
served by peace and stability and good relations with its neighbors.
Rwanda‟s image as a predatory and aggressive rogue state is detrimental
to the long-term interests of nations in the Great Lakes region.

The Rwanda National Congress will endeavor to promote reconciliation
and harmonious relations with neighboring states – based on mutual
respect and respect of the sovereignty of other states – and peace in
the Great Lakes region. The RNC will seek to strengthen regional
organizations in which Rwanda is a member and to enhance Rwanda‟s
positive contributions to promoting regional peace and advancing
economic and cultural cooperation between Rwanda and her neighbors. The
RNC will support the establishment of relations with the wider
international community based on shared values and interests, rather
than exploitation of the guilt over the failures of other nations with
regard to the 1994 genocide.

Why Besigye may have a chance at the presidency and how the President risks impeachment by parliament

Two things that seemed almost impossible and improbable at the end of March this year are increasingly becoming possible and probable as the year closes. One was that Forum for Democratic Change boss Kizza Besigye would never be President of Uganda (which was my position); the other was that the NRM-dominated Parliament would never impeach President Yoweri Museveni (which was the position of my critics) because he had effective control over it. Today, both scenarios are possible and probable. Both these changes show how indeterminate the future is.

At the end of March this year, Museveni was a very confident man. He had resoundingly defeated Besigye in what was perhaps the freest, fairest and least violence-ridden presidential election ever. Yes, he raided the Treasury and spent tonnes of public money on it. However, in the wider scheme of things, better a president who buys an election than one who kills for it. Wasn’t it King Philip 11 of Macedonia (father of Alexander the Great) who saw bribery and lies as humane substitutes to slaughter?

Similarly, at the end of March, Besigye looked like a spent force; his claims that he had been cheated of victory sounded like sour grapes. He had been beaten in his northern stronghold, failed to gain ground in Buganda, lost significant ground in Teso and the entire East and made no inroads in western Uganda. He had called upon his supporters to demonstrate against electoral fraud and no one turned up.

On the other hand, Museveni had not just won by 68% (up from 58% in 2006), his NRM party also swept the Parliamentary seats. Out of 375 elected seats, NRM had won 264. Of the 43 MPs elected as independents, 39 were allied to the party. If one added UPDF representatives to NRM, the ruling party’s parliamentary majority looked overwhelming and Museveni looked as secure as ever in his position. To many observers, this was going to be Museveni’s best five year term ever.

This was the context of Uganda at the beginning of April 2011 – a demoralised and apathetic opposition; a confident and seemingly impregnable Museveni and his party. But by the end of the month, the tables had turned. Demonstrations had rocked the entire country from Kampala to Mbale, Gulu, Masaka and the president’s home district of Mbarara. Besigye had re-emerged from virtual obscurity to become the main centre of attention leading the ‘Walk to Work’ campaign. What had happened in less than two months to change everything?

The genesis of Museveni’s dilemma was the way he approached the election campaign. Suspecting that Besigye had been given a lot of money by the late Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi, Museveni raided the national Treasury for Shs 600 billion and went on a spending spree. It was the most expensive election in Uganda’s history. After the election, I was the leading proponent of the view that the president had literary bought the election.

By December 2010, Afrobarometer polls were showing Museveni with a commanding lead of 67% and throughout the election campaign, all polls reflected this constant figure. On Election Day, he got 68% – meaning that Museveni’s money had little effect on his electoral arithmetic.

However, the spending spree had powerful implications on the economy whose long-term consequences he could have underestimated and some he could not have foreseen. For example, assuming that his strategic objective was to retain power, he may have realised that in the short term this required some fiscal irresponsibility i.e. excessive spending that could cause inflation. However, once he had achieved his strategic objective, he would re-establish prudent fiscal and monetary policy, bring inflation under control and have a comfortable five years.

However, the President seems to have been hit by what Nassim Nicolas Taleb calls aBlack Swan – the impact of a large and unexpected event. Immediately after the election, Uganda suffered two major external shocks – the increasing price of crude oil in international markets and the appreciation of the dollar – both of which brought with them imported inflation. Then the effects of the drought that had started in December 2010 were beginning to bite in form of high food prices – the most critical driver of inflation.

Even before Museveni could re-establish control over the economy, these developments grievously hurt our already fragile fiscal and monetary positions. Indeed, they made it difficult for Museveni to regain control over inflation in the short term. To make matters worse (as if the gods were colluding to spoil the president’s renewed mandate), the effects of these shocks were most felt by urban consumers - the constituency that is most hostile to the government but equally the most strategically positioned to make demands on the State by organising civil disobedience.

It is in this context that ‘Walk to Work’ protests began – producing the law of unintended consequences. For example, the protests initially reduced the inflow of food into Kampala City, thus making inflation worse. As the protests spread from Kampala to other towns, they scared away investors and tourists, thereby reducing the inflows of foreign exchange and thereby worsening the position of the Shilling. This in turn forced portfolio investors to begin selling off their Ugandan treasury bills and bonds, further undermining the health of the local currency.

In the midst of all these developments – a seemingly failing economy and a political process out of touch with people’s concerns – the constituencies in favour of protests grew. The teachers went on strike over poor pay. The taxi drivers followed suit over fuel prices. Then traders closed their shops protesting the increasing price of the dollar. Lawyers downed their gowns in protest against government handling of the demonstrations. Beleaguered and disoriented, the government’s response to these challenges became shabbier. For example, it began charging protesters with treason, a very ridiculous thing at that.

It is in these circumstances that Besigye regained his political relevance. Sensing a weakness, Parliament also took advantage of the situation to openly challenge the Executive using alleged corruption in oil deals as an entry point. So, if Museveni does not re-assert his authority now, Parliament may run out of control. If this happens, it may even gain the confidence to try to impeach him. And if Besigye can rekindle the Walk to Work fire, it may give him a chance at the presidency.

It was an annual event that has been erroneously baptised national
dialogue. It is neither national nor even a dialogue. Paul Kagame and
his RPF-a minority in a political and ethnic sense- use the occasion to
harass Rwandans who are not in their ever diminishing clique, and
foreigners who raise questions about Rwanda's current crisis of human
rights and governance. Kagame's monologue was almost solely directed
against all foreigners- mainly the United States ( whose Ambassador,
Susan Rice, criticised Rwanda's lack of democracy, press freedoms and
abuse of human rights) and Belgium. His list of enemies also included
the usual suspects: journalists and human rights activists. It is,
however, to Ambassador Rice's criticism that Kagame hurled harsh words
and insults: intruder, nonsense, joker, liar, double standards,
masquaraders, etc.

Kagame's speech is very hard to analyse. In
the past I have worked very hard to help President Kagame with his
speeches, both on the content aspects, as well as on the delivery side.
He proved to be a very poor student, even at the hands of people with
more expertise than mine. I was visiting friends this weekend when
somebody tried to convince me to listen to his latest speech. I was
hesitant, for I have generally stopped reading or listening to Kagame's
speeches. He lies a lot. He has no respect for Rwandans. For the many
problems that Rwanda has, he is either the source,complicates them, or
has no solutions to offer. I succumbed to my friend's pressure and went
through the agony of listening to thirty minutes of a very painful
reminder that Rwanda has become a state without a statesman.

First, his poverty of ideas comes out loud and clear. Listening to him,
at some point I thought I was listening to a re-incarnated Idi Amin. He
wonders whether Rwandans are deaf, they have nothing to say, or somebody
prevents from speaking. Then he jumps to the late King Mutara
Rudahigwa. Then to Africa and the begging business. On an and on..In
psychiatry, they call it a "fleeting of ideas", typical of states in
which a patient has both grand delusions of themselves, and paranoia
that every one is out against them, and ideas that seem not to have
coonections.

Second, his lies, deceptions and denials are all
too evident. He attempts to rally people around himself by using ,
genocide, Bagosora, and the failures of the international community. He
pretends that he does not know how the same international community he
now insults ( especially the USA and UK) has protected him from
accountabillity for war crimes, crimes against humanity ( UN Mapping
Report), terrorism ( shooting down the Habyarimana plane, ). Otherwise,
by now Kagame would be languishing in jail, alongside Bagosora. His
remarks are calculated to once again intimidate the international
community, now that there is a fresh and irresistible momentum to have
him account for his crimes.

Third, his sense of frustration
and anger comes through in form of harsh words and insults. We know this
type of behaviour from ourselves or our children when caught
red-handed. But Kagame's is a special case. Rwandans and foreigners need
to understand that Kagame's mindset is that of serial killer and mass
murderer, and stop dealing with him as a normal rational being. He is
self-absorbed in a world of his own, and the entire Rwandan system
re-enforces a distorted image of himself. The emperor is naked, but the
clapping multitudes keep on telling him he is wonderfully made and
dressed. Kagame is a like a reckless driver on a high way, driving in
the opposite direction to the traffic. He is overspeeding, his
passengers ( the hostages) hold their breath but still smile and clap.
Other drivers are wondering what is going on, as the police scramble to
stop the mad driver. Over loudspeakers mounted on the Rwanda bus, he
asks, "we ni nani?" "who are you?"

In history and in modern
times, effective statesmen do three things. When they are born and
forged in difficult times, they help their fellow citizens to overcome
fear. They accomplish this, by combining a sufficient dose of tension so
that people act out their comfort zones, but making sure they are not
paralysed by fear. Second, a statesman embodies the hope of a people,
of a whole nation. Without such a hope, without such a vision, people
perish ( in kinyarwanda, bapfa bahagaze). Last, and most importantly,
the statesman is large-hearted, to accomodate all his/her people/ nation
with their faults and strengths.

President Kagame is no such
statesman. He has subjected the whole nation of Rwanda, Rwanda's
neighbors, and the international community to fear. He is a
mean-spirited man who takes pride in killing and dividing Rwandans.
Concluding his monologue, Kagame said he has never been vague in his
life, " what you see is what you get". In short, he is telling us ,
"you can die, be fearful, hopeless, languish in jails and exile....I do
not give a damn..who are you??".

Bismarck, the German
Chancellor of "blood and iron" who unified Germany is quoted to have
stated that statesmanship consisted of listening carefully to the
footsteps of God through history and walking with him a few steps of the
way. Kagame has neither the humility nor the capability to listen to
to God's footsteps, nor to walk with Him even one step in the right
direction.

Now that Kagame is against Rwandans, foreigners and
God , who is for him? His speech will be counted among his worst and
last, and surely a signal that for him and us, the final countdown to
the end has begun.

The Gersony Report: It’s Findings and more.

(by the World News Journal)In 1994, as the UNHCR and the U.S. Embassy in Kigali encouraged
Rwandan Hutu refugees to come back to Rwanda, reports of wide scale
massacres emanated out of the countryside. The UNHCR appointed a team
(led by Robert Gersony) to investigate. This team was unique because it
was the only team that was allowed to travel freely though the country
without RPA escorts. They visited 41 communes and 9 refugee camps to
collect evidence. In the report on his findings, Mr. Gersony states he
believes that the RPA committed genocide against Hutu in Kibungo,
Butare, and parts of Kigali and between early April to mid-September
1994, the RPF killed between 25,000-45,000 Rwandans, both Hutu and Tutsi. At times, Hutu prisoners were used as slave labor to dig the mass graves and dump the bodies in.
The report was so damaging to the UNHCR, RPF and UNAMIR that UN
officials covered it up in October 1994, despite the fact UNHCR
officials on the ground (on the order of UNHCR head Ms. Sagato Ogata)
stopped encouraging Rwandan Hutu refugees to return to Rwanda because of
the killings, as reported in the New York Times at the end of
September.

Mr. Gersony was instructed never to talk about it publicly.
The public would even be told in later years that the report never existed. In her book “The Turbulent Decade,” Ms. Ogata describes Gersony “formalizing his report for presentation
to the commision of experts” on October 11, 1994. In his recent book on
the Congo, Mr. Gerard Prunier said Kofi Annan told then VP Kagame, the
late Seth Sendashonga (then Interior Minister), PM Faustin Twagiramungu,
and President Pasteur Bizimungu the UN would withhold the report to
allow the RPF government time to consolidate after providing them with a
copy of the report.The report made its way to the UN Commission of Experts on
Human Rights via then UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali. Mr.
Gersony briefed the commission in Geneva. However, they inexplicably
basically dismissed the report (pg. 15). Mr. Gersony later allegedly
told Mr. Prunier during a meeting with him that he had never written a
“fully developed version” of his findings because he knew they would not
be published. Instead, he had only “field notes” in “documentary form.” (pg. 466) When Alison des Forges made several requests to the UN for the report, she was told the report didn’t exist.The report was also potentially damaging to the United States, a
strong supporter of the new Rwandan government. As described by Mr.
Prunier in his book, then Undersecretary of State for Global
Affairs Timothy Wirth was given orders by the State Department to
discredit the report. Mr. Wirth travelled to Kigali and several places
in New York, spreading disinformation
by attacking Gersony’s methodology and claiming it was a “Hutu
conspiracy.” He also delivered carefully crafted propagandic press
statements. (pg. 31)Though a physical report itself has proven to be very elusive
and, as noted above, some claim it doesn’t exist, a cable from Mr.
Shaharyar Kahn to UN HQ in New York gives the findings and is available
below. Mr. Gersony and his team subjectively concluded from the
investigation that the RPA committed genocide against the Hutu. The
cable also shows Kofi Annan (then Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping)
and Mrs. Sagato Ogata, head of the UNHCR, expressing their concern if
the report were to be released publicly. According to Mr. Kahn, he and
Mr. Annan later concluded that RPA massacres did occur, but they were
not genocide, contradicting the findings of Mr. Gersony, a seasoned
investigator.Cable 1: (Gersony Cable)The second cable is from Refugees International, who had a
station across the Tanzanian-Rwandan border. It describes in detail some
of the RPF massacres and served as input for the Gersony Report.Cable 2: (Refugees International)A very special thanks to Canadian Barrister and ICTR defense counsel Chris Black for providing these documents. References to Mr. Pruiner’s book do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of his book. — WNJ

For some time, Umuvugizi.com has been carrying out investigations on how the international criminal court for Rwanda based in Arusha Tanzania works and how Rwandans judge it.The Rwandans interviewed said the court did not fully do its job in that it only prosecuted genocide suspects and exonerated former RPF soldiers who are also alleged of having committed serious crimes against humanity in the same period . Rugumaho Benoit lives in Sweden, says the court failed to
fulfill its mandate as in accordance to the UN resolution no. 955 which
called for punishing all crimes committed between January 1st, and December 31st 1994. “Up to today that court has only managed to arrest and prosecute those accused of genocide
but failed to punish other Rwandans who committed the different crimes
against humanity during the stipulated period” Rugumaho said.

Rugumaho argued that besides that court failing to prosecute the former RPF fighters suspected of committing crimes during the period, it also failed to investigate into the downing of the plane that carried Presidents Habyarimana of Rwanda and Ntaryamira of Burundi. He is worried of the court’s closure of duties without bringing to justice those who committed such terrorist action of shooting down that plane which was carrying two presidents and had french nationals at the board. Innocent Mpambara who also lives in Sweden said that while the Arusha court tried to prosecute those suspected of committing the genocide, it however failed to handle both sides of the conflict as expected.
“The Arusha court has failed to arrest and prosecute anyone of the former RPF soldiers accused of committing crimes during the same period ,” Mpambara said.

According to Musangamfura Sixbert who lives in Finland says the Arusha
court did not provide justice, it only punished those suspected of committing genocide but failed to punish the other side of the conflict which comprised of the RPF fighters who were also involved in the killings and other related crimes. “The UN decided not to put the court in Kigali in order to
allow its independence from the Rwandan government but it is shocking
how the ICTR is considering transferring remaining cases to Rwanda to be
handled by the same government that the UN feared its influence because
some of it’s officials are also accused of having committed related crimes . The court should not have decided to transfer those accused of genocide crimes to Rwanda where the international human rights groups have also continued to criticise the operation of the judiciary which proves that it is not independent,” Musangamfura explains.

Karekezi Francois who lives in Belgium told us that up to now Rwandans
wonders why the Arusha tribunal managed to only punish genocide crimes
but failed to punish other Rwandans who committed other crimes against
humanity.Karekezi strongly urged ICTR to continue with the case file
opened by judge Carla Delponte, which had investigated and recommended
that such serious crimes against humanity committed by former RPF fighters sould be punished , as the only way to reconcile and unite Rwandans.

BEHIND THE PRESIDENTIAL CURTAINS SERIES:
For many years Paul Kagame failed to cement the historical bond
created by his two senior commanders and or brothers’ president Yoweri
Kaguta Museveni and Gen Fred Rwigema.
It had been agreed between the then Commander Fred Rwigema and
Commander Yoweri Museveni way back in Tanzania that after liberating
Uganda, they would carry on and help Fred liberate his own country
(Rwanda) the country his parents had fled when he was only a toddler. A
few years after liberating Uganda from Idi Amin Dada they continued to
fight against President Milton Obote’s autocratic regime.
On this second liberation 5 years NRA struggle, Paul Kagame was
introduced to Yoweri Museveni by commander Fred Rwigema who had both
fought liberation wars way from Mozambique and hence he Paul Kagame
becoming one of the 27 founding members.
Most young Rwandan refugees in Uganda participated in this liberation
war because it was the only way to find a safer living due to their
oppression by the Obote regime or as the only way to get arms and hence
return to their mother land on liberation of Uganda.
Like most people know, Museveni is a man who keeps his promises the
only promise he failed to keep is the term limit issue, though I will
not go any further on this issue. He therefore kept his promise not only
until when we evaded Rwanda but supported the war all the way through
until the stopping of the Genocide.
After the liberation and stopping of the genocide, president Museveni
paid his first state visit to Rwanda where he was welcomed by President
Pasteur Bizimungu and vice president Paul Kagame. The relationship
between Uganda and Rwanda was like a child and parent relationship. I
remember we had to make people stand on the Kigali – Gatuna road from
Nyakyonga to Amahoro national stadium just to show how welcoming and
appreciating we RPA were.
In his words president Museveni talked about how (Moto) fire started
in Mozambique to liberate the Africans and that they will continue. He
continuously mentioned General Fred Rwigema as the best freedom fighter
of all times in his speech along with other African freedom fighters he
had worked with all the way along, including Julius Nyerere who he
addresses as Mzee (elder in Swahili).
He went on to say that he was pleased to see that Paul Kagame who was
a young man had grown up to develop into a leader, something (Kagame
did not like). He also mentioned names of a few of our fallen and living
commanders as his boys this did not sound good in Paul Kagame’s ears at
all.
Although Paul Kagame was angered by his visitor’s speech and the fact
that he did not praise him but instead his fallen comrade, he could not
react in his usual silly manner due to the fact that Rwanda was still
reliant on Uganda in many ways especially the defence. Museveni thought
that Rwanda could be home to all Ugandans and Uganda to all Rwandans,
during that time one could cross the borders of the two countries with
no passport. This was President Museveni’s big ideas which he had
extended to the creation of the East African block of countries.
However Kagame had negative feelings about the entire idea since he
viewed it as being dominated by his former boss and the fact that though
he was the Vice President, he saw himself as the president instead.
After helping Desire Kabila liberate Zaire, both Uganda and Rwanda
continued to engage in the wars in the DRC which later saw both
countries fight two times. These endless wars have created loads of
instability in the entire great lakes region. Apart from the Congolese
citizens these wars fuelled hash relationships between the two
presidents. Uganda on its own lost two Companies of well trained young
special force Hima boys in Kisangani by the much combat experienced
Rwandan troops.
Most of the commanders and troops on both sides were opposed to the
actual war due to the fact that the people of Uganda and Rwanda were
more or less like brothers, and actually the Rwandan army had been born
off the Ugandan National Resistance Army with their commanders and
comrades still serving on the other side having trained together. With
such incidents and situations we lost many comrades who were opposed to
the fact that they couldn’t stand the fact of fighting fellow comrades.
Lt Col Rutayisire Shaban was one of the officers who opposed the battles
between the two armies. He mentioned this to President Kagame and being
the man he was (the first RPA spokes man) and an intellectual, Kagame
didn’t like the idea so he ordered his execution by a fellow senior
officer. Gen Kayumba was among a few of the officers in Rwanda who
couldn’t cope with the idea of fighting comrades.
Gen JJ Odong the then army commander of Uganda was instructed by his
commander-in-chief to meet his Rwandan counterpart. I remember him
meeting Gen Nyamwasa who was the army commander of Rwanda then, however
on their return to their respective command headquarters, Kagame ordered
his troops to carry on with the battle in Kisangani. I remember we made
several visits in Uganda to meet Museveni in order to calm down the
situation which had gone out of hands.
When the Congolese war finally ended, what followed was Paul Kagame’s
intelligence network helping Lt Col Kyakabare and Lt Col Monday to
escape the Makindye Military Prison, these two officers had been
detained with serious charges however Kagame’s boys took them to Rwanda
and they soon after declared war against Museveni’s government. Uganda
was continuously used as a gateway for Rwandan dissidents who sought
refuge in different parts of the world from their oppressive ruler Paul
Kagame.
During that time Uganda also was holding numerous Rwandan dissidents
who planned attacks on Rwanda, while the Rwanda government continuously
planned to form armed groups that would destabilise Uganda and welcomed
Colonel Muzora who had fell out with the Ugandan government.
Col Muzora was to only be found dead and dumped outside his front
door after so many years in exile. However what is more disturbing is
that the Ugandan intelligence service indicated that Rwanda knew about
his death, and hence the relationship between the two countries depended
on the two leaders (Kagame and Museveni).
A few years ago, Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa escaped Rwanda to South Africa
through Uganda. On his escape, Rwandan officials contacted Ugandan
officials asking them to detain him and stop him from fleeing any
further, the Ugandan officials refused to arrest him and instead
assisted as they believed he had a genuine cause to flee.
After Paul Kagame failed to get Kayumba back he made a phone call to
Museveni and threatened that “he Museveni should bear the consequences
of not arresting criminals like Kayumba and letting them pass through
his country to foreign countries”. On another occasion again Paul Kagame
cautioned while making his parabolic speech that “once you live in a
grass thatched hut/ house you deserve not to play with fire since it
might be used to burn yourself”.
A few days after these two speeches, the Buganda Royal tombs were
burnt down just to show Museveni what damage he can cause on his soil.
At one point Kagame rang Museveni and mentioned to him that he knows
every move of his life from what he eats to how he sleeps. This was very
stressful to Museveni who in actual sense is getting aged.
It should be remembered that Kagame was the head of intelligence in
Uganda for a number of years and so he knows the sensitive part of
Ugandans and mostly the Buganda kingdom. This took Museveni time to
convince the Ugandans on what really happened; he had to use King Ronald
Muwenda Mutebi in order to calm the Baganda tribe down due to the fact
that they had lost part of their ancestral history for just some ill
minded politician.
Prior to that but just after Kagame’s first warnings we saw the fall
of Colonel Noble Mayombo a young energetic, well learnt jubilant
uprising senior officer who held various posts during his time. This
distinctive officer had urged Museveni to overthrow Kagame and insert
somebody else who would maintain security in the region instead of
destabilising it. He was the man who planned on how Kagame’s jet can be
downed, but also he is alleged to have engaged with Kabuga Felicien who
is accused of assisting the interahamwe during genocide.
Col Mayombo a royal to the Tooro kingdom and a close confidant to
president Museveni who had fought the Congo war was later poisoned
during a meeting through a glass of water, he died of multiple organ
failure after being flown to abroad for treatment in Museveni’s
presidential jet. On his funeral Museveni said that he had been killed
by a group of great lakes region spies who did not like peace, but
stressed that he had more Mayombo’s who would continue to fight for
peace in the region. Museveni had to visit the late Canon Rabwoni, Noble
Mayombo’s father and the entire Tooro kingdom with very little answers
since he was still in shock of what Kagame was capable of doing on his
soil from as far as Kigali. It should be however noted that Museveni had
never underrated the capabilities of Kagame in Uganda due to his
knowledge and influence in the country.
These killings, love hate relationship has been going on all these
years. Paul Kagame is at present very uncomfortable and he is trying any
possible ways of stopping Uganda from sponsoring any opponent against
him.
He has at recent used Andrew Mwenda the greedy Ugandan journalist who
was paid to publicise Kagame on the globe to revive his relationship
with his former boss Museveni forgetting the uncountable Ugandan troop
he has ordered for their execution in the jungles of Kisangani and the
entire Congo under the command of Gen Kazini a man he personally had
hated before he left Uganda in the 1990s.
Kagame has out of desperation used Gen Karenzi Karake who served in
Museveni’s protection unit before the Rwandan struggle to try and revive
his relationship with Museveni despite of the fact the later was
detained without trial for allegedly aiding the escape of his colleague
Gen Kayumba. After failing on all fronts, Kagame has recently asked his
wife to jet in Uganda and try desperately and revive the long lost
relationship thus carrying her entire family to a brother that he has
hurt for such a long time Museveni, to try and attract some sympathy.
I am however left to wonder how long this unfounded relationship will
last given the fact of all the preceding incidents that took lives of
young men and women of both countries. It is evident how shallow
president Kagame thinks his people are and belief that they shall forget
and move on but i highly wonder if Ugandans will be able to forget the
notoriety they faced by Kagame and his forces in the Congo just because
he has visited Museveni two times in the last 2 months.
Kagame’s Christmas visits are long due. He should have done 17 years
ago and hence avoided the Kisangani incidents saving lives of innocent
comrades rather than turning up at this time as if nothing ever
happened. This is common to him anyway. He is a type of a person who
would sleep on one’s door step if he is desperate for any assistance and
once he gets it, he would use any possible means to harm the same
person that helped him.
President Museveni on the other hand is an ailing dude who is
desperate to not cause any conflict to any of his neighbours let alone
wild Kagame who he knows so well. To Museveni he is like a mad dog that
you are happy not to annoy to save yourself from its bitter bites to
save your skin for tomorrow. Yoweri Museveni and his brother General
Salim Saleh Akandwanaho have kept their promises when it comes to
helping Rwanda, just for the sake of the agreement they had with General
Fred Rwigyema. It has been a hard time for the last couple of years
after Kagame stopped Fred’s wife Jeannette Rwigyema from travelling and
confiscating her passport. This angered Salim Saleh who was very close
to the family of Fred, among the reasons why Museveni started engaging
with Kagame was to diffuse his anger of mistreating his former
commander’s wife Fred Rwigyema.
Noble Marar